Neo Geo Chronicles
by Radiant Falcon
Summary: In the mood for a serious SNK Universe story? Well, you're not going to find it here. Next Chapter: Mecha Geese Howard. I believe that says everything right there.
1. Chap the First: Alien vs Orochi

**Hiya. I'm GF, and today is a great day.**

**This is a new story I'm working on. It stars the cast of King of Fighters, although there's also quite a bit of other SNK games thrown in too. Expect to see Kizuna Encounter, Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, Last Blade, Samurai Shodown, Metal Slug, and more!**

**In this, the first chapter, an Alien Invasion is taking place, and Mars People is not involved. (Fans of Metal Slug, breathe a sigh of relief.) Oh, and we find out that Orochi is still A&K (Alive & Kicking), and he's a bit…. OOC, to say the least.**

**VIOLENT DISCLAIMERING TO COME AGAIN: I don't own SNK Playmore or any of the games represented or anything else I might choose to make fun of within the pages of this story. Oh yeah. If I get some details wrong, don't blame me. This story follows a completely different canon than KoF. I suppose you can call it Accurate Alternative Universe.**

**So then, ladies and gentlemen: The Neo Geo Chronicles starts now.**

The Yamata no Orochi: Once a very evil god-spirit bent on destroying humanity, now is a chaotic neutral misanthropic god-spirit who manifests itself in the form of a fifteen-year-old kid from Sweden who, like about seven or eight other people in the dangerous city of Southtown, can control the power of fire. Or at least, that's what said Swedish kid likes to say.

His name was Chris. He couldn't remember his last name, or even if he had any parents. Hell, even his own _gender_ is debatable. He looks like he was thrown up from the nineties. Bowl-cut, loose-fitting blue shirt, baggy white pants, blue velcro shoes, black undershirt, everything about his fashion statement screams: 90's style rapper, except for the fact that he was white. He came into the King of Fighters tournament along with his two friends, Shermie (again, no last name) and Yashiro Nanakase. At first, they were going to fight because Yashiro had formed a rock band and that he wanted to advertise it. Then they found out that they were three of the four Heavenly Kings of Orochi (the last one was Leopold Goenitz, some fancy-pants controller of wind.), and things weren't the same. Apart from being branded evil by Justice's Hypocrite Kim Kaphwan, they also had to fight Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, and Chizuru Kagura in '97. And then, Chris himself was revealed to be the manifestation of Orochi, who back then was in fact evil. And then he died, along with Shermie and Yashiro.

Through some weird black magic ritual or something, they came back in 2002(1) with one goal in mind: Take Kaphwan down a couple of pegs, and get the Sacred Treasures Team while they're at it. Well, they beat Kaphwan and his Korea Team, but they couldn't beat Yagami Team, which itself got knocked out by Japan Team. Ever since, Chris, Shermie, and Yashiro had lived pretty much normal lives. Well, as normal as Heavenly Kings of Orochi can get, at any rate, especially when your namesake _lives_ with you.

Well anyway, Chris was walking down the street, listening to his MP3 player he got from former Outlaw Team member Billy Kane the other day (coincidentally listening to Asterisk by Orange Range), WHEN SUDDENLY (!2) he was ambushed by a house. This house was a very nice house with some windows, maybe a chimney or two, and most definitely a door. Oh, and arms, legs, and a cockpit in the middle of the house. In other words, this is a house-mech belonging to…

"SO YOU ARE CHRIS! I'm _so _going to enjoy reducing you to a bloody puddle on the ground!"

Yup. It belonged to a Japanese genius inventor girl whose full name was unknown (all she could remember was Kori), also known as "the creator of Cyber Woo". She lived by herself, but she was often seen with a Scottish bearded guy (whose name is Angus MacLeod III) and his truck of awesome. Little did they know they were actually related, by way of Kori's second cousin.

But back to the house-mech. This giant hulking mass of brick, mortar, and titanium alloy wasn't one of Kori's best ideas. No, that would be the Iron Lizard(3). In comparison to the cuter rocket launcher alternative commonly employed by Fiolina Germi and Marco Rossi, the house-mech was a complete waste of time, resources, and house. You see… um… it fell apart after around one minute of stareoff-ing. "Aw dammit. I was hoping to get this thing operational by the end of the week." Kori complained, to which the host for Orochi replied, "So you could stomp around in your brick-and-mortar monstrosity?"

"Cyber Woo's in for repairs, and there was supposed to be an alien invasion sometime next week, but yeah."

Chris's eyes shot open. An alien invasion? This sounded too good to be true. But if it was, he'd better alert everyone's second-or-third favorite KoF endboss right away. As much as Orochi disliked humanity (and he didn't like humans that much, especially those named Kyo Kusanagi.), he despised aliens-with the exception of Mars People of course- that much more. Their beeps and boops and "poo-wah"s weren't threatening, but their weapons certainly were. Not to mention they were usually silly shaped things. I mean, Mars People was, and MP's a space squid. HOORAY FOR SPACE SQUID!

-MEANWHILE IN OUTER SPACE-

"pee poo-wah pee boop beep bepeep beeeeep."

In case you couldn't tell, that meant "that girl found out our plans." And in case you couldn't tell, that was alien speak. Another shady alien responded (in its native tongue, of course) "zorp zorble zorple zorb zorb zorbling zorpo zorrrrble" (that means, "Even worse, that girl is a freaking boy. I cheeeeecked.")

"pee pee-wah poo-wah bedeep?" (What are we going to do?)

"Llama Zog Zog llama llama zorg" (Do not worry, my fellow extra-terrestrials)

"pee-poo pah-wah?" (About what?)

"Llama Zog Zog torgo" (About the gender-confused human)

"zorp zarp zap zap zorbleb?" (What gender confused human?)

"Llama Zog Zog zerg zurg zarg zorg id jots" (Bah. I wish I wasn't assigned to such idiots.)

"pook poo poom beeep!" (We resent that!)

Later, that same alien spoke, "pook pook pook?" which meant, "What does resent mean?"

-BACK DOWN TO EARTH, GAEA(4) or SOME VARIANT THEREOF, ONE DAY LATER-

"_**So let me get this straight: There's going to be an alien invasion next week?"**_

These words were spoken by a tall, white-haired dude with white pants, brown shoes, and a glyph tattoo on his chest. This was the Yamata no Orochi, otherwise known as just plain Orochi."Yes, that's what I was told." The girly-voiced male host of Orochi responded.

"_**And you were told by a girl in a pink jumpsuit?"**_ (5)

"Yes."

Orochi thought for a minute. _**"Was it Kori?"**_

"Yup."

"_**This calls for investigation. I'll see into her mind, you keep her busy. Ready, BREAK!"**_

With that, God-spirit and human incarnation went about their tasks.

-TWENTY MINUTES LATER…-

"_**Chris, when I said 'keep her busy' this wasn't what I had in mind."**_

Orochi was referring to the fact that Chris had kidnapped Kori and hogtied her. Kori wasn't struggling, but there was a pleading look in her eyes, as if trying to say 'please don't kill me…' in a really timid voice. She obviously saw Orochi, and thought that he was his more violent clone Mizuchi (6). _**"Well, I suppose we can make**__**do with this. Let's see here…"**_ Orochi put his hand on Kori's head, and instantly all the young inventor prodigy's worries suddenly went away. Mainly because she passed out from fear. Once he got the information he needed, he lifted his hand off of the poor girl's head. She was still unconscious. _"__**Well… this is a funny story to tell to Seiryuu**_(7)_**. Get this girl to the local doctor, Chris."**_

"On it!"

With that, Chris picked up the (still tied) Kori off the floor and ran out of the current building they were in, going to the local doctor (who just so happened to have a couple of defibrillators.)

-TWO DAYS, ONE HOUR, and FORTY MINUTES LATER…-

"_**And that's the last I saw of them." **_

Orochi was currently explaining to his other two hosts, Shermie and Yashiro, where their drummer at. Which was to say, he didn't know. Shermie then sparked a lightning bolt of an idea. She asked him, "Chief, your consciousness expands throughout Southtown, right?"

"_**Yeah… your point being?"**_

"Well, maybe Chris and Kori are no longer _in _Southtown."

Yashiro piped up, "So they're in Second Southtown(8), then?"

"No, silly. The Chief's consciousness is in Second Southtown, too."

"_**That's true, but it gets a pretty faint signal. It may have something to do with Second Southtown being across the Atlantic."**_

"Well, got any ideas?"

The snake-god thought for a moment. Most of his ideas usually blow up in his face, either due to poor staffing or just poor timing. And then… _**"I think Chris told me that Kori told him that there would be an alien invasion sometime within the week."**_

Yashiro, being Yashiro, queried, "An alien invasion? You sure? We already have Mars People here, you know."

"_**Yeah, but I hope that he's not involved."**_

-MEANWHILE IN CHINATOWN-

(9)

"Yo, Mars! We've got a lot of orders today! Make sure you get those noodles served to the right people this time!"

"Pedeep ploop poom bedeep beeeeep!" ("I'm on it! Noodles, prepare to be served!")

-BACK AT THE OROCHI HOUSE-

"I'm sure he's not involved." Shermie reassured her boss, but said boss was deep in thought. "uh… Chief?"

"_**Oh! Sorry, Shermie. I'm thinking."**_

Yashiro then went, "Aaaanyway, if there's going to be an alien invasion, shouldn't there be a mothership somewhere above Earth?"

Orochi thought for a bit. And then… _**"Yashiro, you may be on to something here. Let's go check it out."**_

With that, snake-god and loyal subjects traversed the dangerous territory of their house and went outside, thinking that they would find some clues as to where the other active heavenly king of Orochi and Japanese mechanic girl were at…

_**EXPOSITION NO JUTSU!**_

1 – In the canon of Neo Geo Chronicles (which is a fanfiction and thus isn't supposed to have one) the events of The King of Fighters '98 doesn't include the New Faces Team from '97, comprised of Shermie, Chris, and Yashiro, mainly because they weren't invited to that tournament. It's really hard to deliver invites to The Different Space, you know.

2 – WHEN SUDDENLY is one of my favorite story phrases. It's usually used in conjunction with ambushes, surprises, and exclamation points.

3 – The Neo Geo Chronicles canon states that Kori developed the Iron Lizard at the age of 8, which was tested at a science fair and bought up by SPARROWS for use in warfare. She's really proud of her creation.

4 – Gaea is apparently another name for Earth. It was brought up in Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, I believe.

5 – This isn't actually Kori's outfit. I couldn't remember what she looked like, so I just copied Liv Trainer's outfit from Custom Robo Arena (a Nintendo game, actually), and made her wear it. It fits perfectly.

6 – Mizuchi is one of the bosses in Neo Geo Battle Coliseum. He's a clone of Orochi, and is much cheaper than that guy.

7 – Seiryuu is one of Orochi's Sigma Omega Delta buddies from Nirvana Tech (7a). He resides in some ronin kid named Kaede. They are on complete opposite sides of the neutral spectrum, but due to Kaede's good nature, Seiryuu is a good guy.

7a – Nirvana Tech is but one of many supernatural colleges where the young gods graduate from. Because even all-powerful gods need to graduate. Aside from Nirvana Tech, there's also Valhalla University and The College of Mt. Olympus.

8 – Second Southtown is the setting of Garou: Mark of the Wolves. I believe that the Jin brothers, Jack Turner and Lee Pai Long live there.

9 – In Mars People's card description in Card Fighters DS, it mentions that MP works at a noodle shop in Osaka. Since this is completely separate from the actual SNK canon, it's implied that MP works at a noodle shop in Chinatown.


	2. Chap the Second: Now with more Bernstein

**This is Neo Geo Chronicles, the only King of Fighters fanfiction that has as footnotes half the length of the chapter.**

**In this chapter, we leave the "Orochi Stops an Alien Invasion" story for now, across town to a café in which Sho Hayate, Nakoruru, Iori Yagami, and Adelheid Bernstein are discussing things. By café, I mean diner. And by "discussing things" I mean basically almost talk about stuff, when Rose Bernstein crashes the party.**

**So stay tuned.**

--ABOUT FIVE DAYS BEFORE THE WHOLE FIASCO WITH THE YAMATA NO OROCHI AND THE ALIEN INVASION DUE TO HAPPEN WITHIN 12 DAYS--

The Purple Flame Diner. A café in the lower right corner of Southtown(1), of which usually brings in about fifteen to twenty customers a day. That's just enough for the owner, operator, manager, and day-to-day worker local King of Fighters badass Iori Yagami, to keep the thing afloat. Considering it occupies what used to be the Thunderbirds café (2) before it got shut down following the NESTS collapse in 2001, the rent's not too high. Even still, the heir to the ancient Yagami clan doesn't get as much money as he hoped to get, just enough to pay rent and cover the cost of the food. (3) Still, fifteen to twenty people is a lot of people for the Purple Flame Diner, what with it being about the size of your local McDonalds (4), and about as popular as a copy of _Halo_ at the Tokyo Game Show.

This morning, Iori got a trio of visitors to the café. One was the son of long-dead arms dealer and long-time King of Fighters Dream Tour (5) endboss Rugal Bernstein. Another was the founder of Fu'un Karate (6). The last one… well… she came from Feudal Japan (7). They've been there since 11:00 AM. It's 1:00 PM.

The aforementioned threesome was sitting at the far end of the café. One had a red breastplate on, tan karate pants, a red headband, and was barefoot. His hair… get this, his hair closely resembles a mullet. Not an Eiji Kisaragi-style (8) mullet, mind you, a black shaggy mullet. Another was dressed casually (for him, anyway), with a black shirt and black slacks with white socks and shoes, and also a pair of black gloves. His hair was blonde, and was styled in the same way as his father. The girl looked like she came out of a Japanese mythology convention, only she was real. She had long black hair tied with a red bow, and a bird was perched on her shoulder. This wasn't some robin, though. This was a hawk.

So basically, we have a karate-man, a supposed-to-be-dead-for-centuries (9) nature girl with a pet hawk, and a techie guy with an ill-gotten inherited fortune and some of the strongest kicks this side of Kim Kaphwan. These three are Sho Hayate, Nakoruru, and Adelheid Bernstein.

"Hey, Adel, how'd you find this place anyway?"

"Yes, Mr. Bernstien, I'd like to know this as well."

"Please, Nakoruru, Mr. Bernstein is my dead father. And as for your question: I used one of the GPS systems I built, as well as reasoning that you would be here to find this place. The fact that it's called the Purple Flame Diner was compl-"

Nakoruru interrupted his answer in the name of a very important question: "GPS? Is that another of your new-world devices?" to which Adelheid Bernstien, noted techie, said nothing. He just glared at Nakoruru. And then a figure came to their table, speaking the phrase, "I didn't expect you guys to come here. 'Specially you, Adelheid. I thought you and Rose were going to the fancy-schmancy restaurant across town." The figure in question was tall, with a black jacket, white pants, light brown shoes, and a plain black choker (10). Of course, the telling feature was his hair. Think of it this way: Dextera from the anime _Kiddy Grade_, but with much longer hair. (11) You've pretty much got Iori Yagami right there. "Well, I'm personally not that big a fan of what you consider to be fancy. That's all Rose.", Adel responded, brushing his hair out of the way. "Who's Rose?" Nakoruru asked, not expecting an answer this time.

WHEN SUDDENLY! The door to the diner flew open. When I say flew open, I mean it flew off its hinges all the way to the other side of the restaurant and broke the door on that side. The perpetrator happened to be a young girl (younger than Adelheid) who looked pretty elegant, and would be the prettiest thing Sho Hayate laid his eyes on, if it wasn't for the fact that her expression was that of pure fury. "That's the third and fourth doors broke this week!" Iori complained, who then got over to fix the doors. Meanwhile, Adelheid told Nakoruru, "That's Rose. She's my sister."

"Oh. Funny, I don't see the resemblance."

"ADELHEID BERNSTEIN!" Rose yelled at the top of lungs (12). "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE AT FRANCO'S(13) WITH ME, BUT I FIND YOU HERE INSTEAD? FOR SHAME!"

"Yup, that's Rose, alright."

"THIS ISN'T THE KIND OF PLACE OUR FATHER WOULD ALLOW YOU TO GO TO!", Rose continued shouting. Adel, meanwhile, was… not furious at all. He casually waved her off and said, "Yeah, and our father's dead. Therefore, I'm not obligated to abide by his rules anymore."

"SO? BESIDES, HE'S NOT DEAD!"

Iori heard the commotion, and after hearing a bit more, casually walked over to the quarrelling couple and said, "I'm sure this is a very interesting argument, Rose, but can you please keep it down? There are people still eating here, one of which is Mr. Howard over there."

A young, blonde teenager with a red and white jacket, a black shirt under the red and white jacket, black pants, and red eyes, turned his head to the arguing party, smiled while waving his hand, and then continued eating his turkey club sandwich.

"THAT'S _ROCK_ HOWARD, YOU NUMBSKULL!"

"Exactly. And he's got the personalities of his biological father and Terry Bogard, and if he's anything like the latter, he's got a big appetite and no patience for people who interrupt his lunch." (14)

"Damn straight!" a voice that sounds like that when your mouth is full of which the origin of said voice is that of the aforementioned Howard boy exclaimed.

"SO? HE SHOULDN'T BE EATING HERE EITHER! HIS FATHER'S A CRIME BOSS, FOR GOD'S SAKE!"

"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Not only are you disrupting the peace (that might get you a court order, with your unnecessary screeching tone and the fact that you blew two doors out of my establishment), but it's unwise to mention Rock's biological father's chosen profession in front of him (15)."

"WATCH ME! RO-" POW! Reppuken to the face! That powerful projectile knocked down Rose, interrupting her statement before it even got started. "OH, SO YOU WANNA FIGHT, EH? THEN TASTE THE WRATH OF ROSE BERNST-!" RATATATA-POW-WHAM! Rising Tackle (16) followed by a front-flip which spikes Rose to the ground! That would send any average person to the hospital, but the people of Southtown are no average people by a long shot. Rose isn't a citizen of Southtown (17), though, so she felt that one in all of its eight-hit-rush-combo power. Amazingly, though, she still stood up, though she kinda wobbled. "owwww… what happened?" Rose eked out. Iori answered the question with, "You were screaming your head off, Rose. Something about Adel eating here, in West Subway, as opposed to Franco's, in Geese Square. Then Rock Howard over there knocked some sense into you."

"oh… I really need to take those lessons sometime soon… For now, though, I'm going to take a nap here… goodnight…"

And then Rose Bernstein collapsed in the middle of the Purple Flame Diner, much to Iori's satisfaction. "Well, that was… easy. Nice going, Howard."

"No problem, Yagami."

And then both related peacekeeps went back to their respective what-they-were-doings: Iori got back to fixing the doors, and Rock got back to eating his turkey club.

As for the other three involved in this mess? Well, Hayate was pretty dismayed himself. "Hey, wait a sec! Wasn't there supposed to be this climactic diner-destroying fight? I _know_ I wasn't the only one who saw that door" he pointed to one side, where the door was missing "fly off its hinges and break that one over there!" he then pointed to the side that Iori was fixing, at which point the Yasakani descendant announced, "Don't mind me, I'm just fixing collateral damage." Adelheid pointed out, "My sister honestly doesn't know her own strength. And are you trying to say something, Hayate?"

"No way. I just thought that Rose would be the type to destroy the entire joint to get to you and drag you to Franco's, by hook or by crook."

Then Nakoruru noticed something wrong about this picture. "I'm sorry you guys, but why would Iori Yagami, a noted jerk and general antagonist, suddenly start owning, operating, managing, and working at a restaurant in this city? It doesn't seem right."

"_You _trying to say something, Nako?"

Iori heard this conversation; and again stopped what he was doing, walked over to their table and explained the following: "Why would I do something like this? For starters, I got the suggestion from the Kanes. Turns out that community service is the best way to get people to like you if you were a jackass, and what better community service is there that starting another restaurant in Southtown, a city known for its fine food and culture as well as its bi-hourly restaurant bouts, main street melees, and back alley brawls? Not to mention the tons of tournaments here, I figure I could get at least two or three teammates just by hiring them. Speaking of, you guys looking for any jobs?"

Out of the three people there, only Nakoruru was looking for a job. "Well, I'll see if I can't find a job for you, then." As he walked away from the table to get the application, someone at another table complained, "Hey wait! You didn't give _me _a job!"

"That's because I don't like you, _KU_-SANAGI (18). You're almost as bad as Kyo's number one obsessive fangirl (19)."

"Ouch. Now that's an insult." another customer noted. This one was actually Kyo's number two obsessive fangirl, Kyoko Kirishima, otherwise known as Cosplayer Kyoko. (20)

**ATTACK OF THE HUNDRED FOOT TALL FOOTNOTES!**

1) Also the location of the Pao Pao Café, another highly regarded but little known restaurant. That is, unless your name is either Richard Meyer or Bob Wilson.

2) The Thunderbirds Café was named after an actual location somewhere in the outskirts of Harrisonburg, VA. This location is completely original, and not found in any KoF or related games.

3) It's still good food, even though the menu's like a combination of Subway and Johnny Rockets. Hell, the whole place is as big as… well, see footnote 4.

4) Unless you live in Orlando, FL; where your local McDonalds has two floors and big enough to support a whole crapton of arcade games (including _F-Zero AX_, a game I thought I'd never see in my life.). Otherwise, your McDonalds has one floor, and is in fact pretty small, not counting the area taken up by those playgrounds (where available).

5) The King of Fighters Dream Tour basically is the dream matches of the series: '98, 2002, and Neowave.

6) Fu'un Karate is the style of fighting Sho Hayate uses. I'm not sure if he's the founder of it, but it's certainly new (6a).

6a) Correction: Fu'un came from Savage Reign and its sequel, Kizuna Encounter. It's new in KOF as of XI, though.

7) See: Samurai Shodown. NOT Last Blade, that's Tokugawa-era Samurai fightings.

8) Have you seen this guy's hair? Eiji's like Solid Snake. At least, he had a mullet in Art of Fighting 2, but that took place in 1979, and not counted towards the KoF storyline, so that's excusable.

9) If you come from the Feudal era of Japan (the 1400s), and this year's 2009, then you're supposed to be dead for centuries. Nakoruru's proof of this, 'cept she's alive here. Time travel? That would make this story even more awesome(9a)

9a) As I often say, Time Travel automatically makes stuff awesome. Sonic CD, TimeSplitters, Back to the Future, Inuyasha, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, H.G. Wells' _The Time Machine_, and Chrono Trigger deal with this, and with the exception of Inuyasha, they're all awesome.

10) This is Iori's King of Fighters XII outfit/his Another Striker outfit from KOF 2000.

11) This comparison was brought up by The Fighters' Generation, a full-fledged encyclopedia of fighting games and their characters. I myself have never heard of Kiddy Grade.

12) This is an intentional omission of a pronoun, in reference to the last sentence of Squirrelking's (in)famous breed of fanfictitious horribulous _Half Life: Full Life Consequences_, its sequel sub-subtitled _What Has Tobe Done_, and several other bad fanfics involving relatives of the main characters, usually (not very) cleverly named. People like him should not be writing fanfics if they don't know the history and make up stupid-ass OCs to compensate.

13) Franco Bash; fancy Italian restaurant entrepreneur and Fatal Fury combatant. He would almost be awesome if it wasn't for the fact that he keeps losing.

14) Terry Bogard, besides being a badass street fighter, is a guest writer for The Daily Melee, a local newspaper in Southtown. Terry writes about restaurants in the city (and their food) under the pen name Jeffrey Wolfe.

15) Rock Howard doesn't like his dad, Geese, very much. He especially doesn't like the fact that he's a crime boss, and that he abandoned Rock when he was, like, six. That's exactly the reason why Terry, being the archetypical hero, adopted him.

16) Terry hasn't used the Rising Tackle since SNK Vs. Capcom SVC Chaos. That technique is used by Rock a lot nowadays.

17) If you recall, the Bernsteins live in an airship called the Black Noah. It usually hovers over Southtown, though, so technically they _are _Southtown citizens, even though they live _over_ the city and not in it.

18) To differentiate between Kyo Kusanagi and his Yata Mirror-produced clone, KUSANAGI is all caps.

19) Yuki Kushinada; Kyo's official, canonical girlfriend. Yuki was not made up by me, or by anyone else. She is 100% character-mutilation-FREE!

20) KYOKO IS _NOT _AN OC. Kyoko is an actual character, albeit a really, really obscure one. She appears as an Extra Striker for Shingo in KOF 2000. Don't believe me? I don't blame you, but Cosplayer Kyoko does exist. Her last name is taken from Kyo's original name, Sho Kirishima. Don't believe me on that? Look it up on the KOF 10th anniversary website. Expect more of Kyoko soon.

**THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is TWENTY TWO footnotes, more that DOUBLE that of the last chapter.**

**So next time, we catch up with whatever the hell Kyo Kusanagi is doing. Particularly, running into fellow legal arsonist K' (it's K Dash).**

**Keep flying.**

**-GF**


	3. Chap the Third: Second Southtown Story 1

**Neo Geo Chronicles is back again, this time with a FIERY VENGEANCE that would make even the most seasoned revenge-ist tremble.**

**Remember when I said that Kyo and K' would meet up this chapter? That'll have to wait.**

**In this chapter, we take a trip to Second Southtown over in the US to join Kain R. Heinlein, his loyal henchman Abel "Grant" Cameron, and also their monthly-kidnappee Hotaru Futaba in reminiscing about Kain's various failed schemes to take over the city. Think of it this way: Kain's like Dr. Robotnik from the Sonic series: Brilliant, ambitious, and incompetent.**

**Finally, a new naming structure will start now. Basically, every chapter from here on out will have a theme and an act attached to it, and a standard title as well. For instance, the last two chapters were "Alien Vs. Orochi Act 1: The Beginning" and "Purple Flame Diner Act 1: Now with more Bernstien!"**

**This chapter's called: Second Southtown Stories Act 1: Professor Heinlein, PhD**

---THE SAME DAY AS THE LAST CHAPTER, DESPITE IT TAKING LIKE OVER TWO MONTHS FOR THIS CHAPTER TO COME OUT---

Japan's own Southtown is a haven for food and fighters, and the site of many a King of Fighters tournament. What people don't know is that the tournament started out in the US(1), in what is now called Second Southtown, Washington(2). Among the diverse population of Second Southtown (or 2nd South, as the residents call it), there is a serial killer, a seventy-year-old pharmacist, the original owner of the Pao Pao Café(3), Kim Kaphwan's two teenage sons, and even a Kyokugen-ryuu master. However, the master of 2nd South's seedy underbelly of fighting is Kain R. Heinlein. The younger brother of Marie Heinlein, Geese Howard's dead wife, he was the mastermind behind the King of Fighters: Maximum Mayhem(4) tournament held in 2nd South. Like many criminal heads, Kain's an accomplished fighter. So is his personal bodyguard, Abel Cameron, AKA Grant. And so was their (ahem) _guest_, a fifteen-year-old girl named Hotaru Futaba.

Maybe I should explain how Hotaru got there. Incidentally, the Heinlein Syndicate, Kain's own criminal organization, attempts the kidnapping of a local girl once a month. Basically, they pick a name out of a hat and then lure whoever they chose out of their home, abduct her, and then take her to one of the Heinlein Syndicate's various bases across the city. They just so happened to pick Hotaru, but they didn't count on Hotaru's pet sable(5) Itokatsu to follow them. Actually, Kain's a relatively generous guy, so Itokatsu was allowed to stay with Hotaru. Why? I don't know. Probably because Kain thinks sables are cute.

Anyway, Kain and Grant were busy telling their captive how she was "chosen". (it became sort of a tradition in cases like this.) The captive in question had her hands bound behind her back, and her feet were shackled together. "So you see, Ms. Futaba, it was pure luck that you were allowed to join us this month.", Kain told Hotaru, to which she replied "You mean, it was pure luck that you kidnapped me, right?"

"Well, when you put it that way…"

Hotaru then realized where she saw that face before, not to mention that awesome light-blue-and-black outfit "Hey, you're Kain R. Heinlein, aren't you?" to which the Heinlein Syndicate leader responded, "Yes, that has already been established, Ms. Futaba."

"I've heard of you from Rock. He said you're not that bad of a guy."

Kain realized who he was talking to. Hotaru Futaba, incidentally, was Rock's best friend, and she was actually planning to move to Southtown to be with him more often. He said, "It's very flattering to hear something like that from one of my nephew's friends. And you know I can't have you leaving Second Southtown just yet."

"How'd you know I was going to move?"

Grant, being the one who actually kidnapped her, said, "There was a You-Hawl(6) truck outside your house. The only way you could have something like that is if you were planning to move somewhere." Kain added, "Seriously? You were planning to use You-Hawl? You could've used Hurtz, POGS, or maybe have the Kim(7) boys take you, and it would've been a lot less hassle, not to mention it won't cost as much." Only Kain can switch from formal sayings in one sentence, to speaking casually in another. The irony of it was that Kain himself used You-Hawl to move supplies from place to place. He was beginning to regret it. And when Kain R. Heinlein regrets doing something, you'll regret suggesting it to him. "and also, you can't cross the pacific with You-Hawl, unless you were going to Hawaii, in which case it'll cost you around $1,200 extra." Grant continued.

"I'll keep that in mind."

The three possible stooges continued on down the hallway (I forgot to mention, they were walking down a hallway) to one of Kain's invention rooms. You see, Kain is a genius. His intellect has yet to be matched by anyone. The problem with Kain's smartiness, though, is that he often squanders his genius on inventions to take over the world. Most of these inventions failed, however, and Kain R. Heinlein is usually referred to as 'Second South's Geese' if Geese himself was referred to as 'the M. Bison(8) of Southtown'. "Well, here we are.", Kain said to his two companions (of which one didn't actually want to be there). Hotaru, the one who didn't want to be here, was impressed by the utter normalcy of this room compared to Kain's HQ. "Wow. This looks so… ordinary.", she commented, to which Kain responded, "You probably don't know this, but I get distracted by lavishly decorated objects and all sorts of stuff you'd normally find in a manor of some sort, so I built this room to be practical. I am a genius, you know."

"Wait, what's that over there?"

Hotaru tried to point to a certain object, but as I said before, her hands were tied behind her back, so she just turned her head to the general direction of a strange little robot. This 8-inch-tall stainless-steel likeness of a toy robot had a white karate gi and a red headband on, and it just so happened to be equipped with Authentic Ki Fireball Action(9) "Oh, that's Robot the SFC Awards Robot(10). I was honored with that prize by the Southtown Fighting Circuit(11) a few months back, when I had a little girl named Marietta(12) as my guest."

"You're still in the Southtown Fighting Circuit?"

"Indeed."

Grant then started to reminisce about a plan of Kain's… "Hey Kain, remember that time when we tried to take over the city using one of your weird contraptions?", he started, to which Kain asked, "Which one?"

"The one with that giant bird"

Kain remembered that one, saying "ah yes, I remember. The Giant Claw(13), I called it." Hotaru remembered it too, but decided not to say anything. Kain's too much of a benefactor to be involved with first-the-city-then-the-world plans. And besides, that's Geese's schtick. "What about that one where we unleashed a whole bunch of rats in every restaurant in the city?"(14), Grant asked with emphasis on the phrase 'what about that one where we unleashed a whole bunch of rats in every restaurant in the city'. Hotaru took this time to say this question: "Wait, that was you?" Meanwhile, Kain repeated a mantra. "Never let Grant design plans to take over the city."

(15)

_**The King of Footnotes '94**_

1) Fatal Fury was set in Southtown, and Southtown at the time was located in the US.

2) Too many times have I seen a Californian ST, or a New Yorkian ST, so Second Southtown(2a) is located in Washington.

2a) As already stated, Second Southtown was the setting of Garou: Mark of the Wolves. Although, at the time the game was made, the Zero Cannon from KOF 2000 hadn't fired at Original Southtown yet. At this point, it had, and Southtown was moved to Japan, and Second South is in the US.

3) The original owner of the Pao Pao Café is Richard Meyer, host and referee for some very interesting barfights.

4) This is the tournament in Garou: Mark of the Wolves. I bet you didn't know it was a KOF tournament.

5) A Sable's like a squirrel, except waaaay cuter.

6) SEE WHAT I DID THAR?

7) In Korea (as well as some parts of Japan and China), last names are written first. For instance: Kim Jae Hoon and Kim Dong Hwan.

8) …What? You didn't expect the whole thing with Shadaloo/Shadowlaw and their dictatorial boss Bison/Vega to go unnoticed in the SNK Universe, right? Especially after that whole World Martial Arts Tournament(8a)-party-crashing that he and Geese did, right?

8a) The Story is this: Garcia Group(8b) and the Masters Foundation, after years of rivalry, joined forces to create the World Martial Arts Tournament (also known as the first Capcom Vs. SNK). Then Bison showed up and royally screwed everything.

8b) Garcia Group is the financial clique that Robert Garcia, Kyokugen-ryuu practitioner, is the heir of.

9) Also known as: "Realistic Haoh Sho Koh Ken Action!" and "Actual Hadoukens!"

10) In memoriam: Robot the EGM Awards Robot. 1990-2008. May you play many games of the year in heaven.

11) This was the sponsor of the King of Fighters: Maximum Mayhem tournament. Because crime bosses like Kain and Geese need a sponsorship to avoid suspicions.

12) I met a girl named Marietta once. She was pretty

13) After the movie monster called The Giant Claw. It's as big as a battleship!

14) You know, like in that Disney movie Ratatouille. I refuse to refer to it as a Disney/Pixar movie, because Pixar's imagination died when they were bought out.

15) Kain only had two plans to try to take over the city. One of them was conceived by Grant. Grant isn't the longest combo in Killer Instinct.

**COMING UP: Art of Fail Act 1 – Flight of Fail**

**The Art of Fighting gang (plus King and, inexplicably, Kasumi Todoh) goes to New York to catch up with Robert's company and get the Kyokugen Dojo's rent out of the way. Little do they know there's a stowaway on their plane. Is it Eiji Kisaragi attempting assassination? Probably not. Is it Ryuhaku Todoh? Not a chance. Is it Kim Kaphwan, trying to catch a plane to Korea but somehow got the wrong plane? No, and he's from Fatal Fury 2.**


	4. Chap the Fourth: Seafaring Shenanigans I

_**REVIEW QUOTES:**_

_**It really doesn't matter who does or does not live in Southtown, because everyone and their mother has a best friend or rival that does, and will end up there whether they want to or not.**_** –Strike To Incinerate**

**It's The Revenge of Neo Geo Chronicles! (In Japan it's known as The Super Neo Geo Chronicles!)  
**

**This chapter takes place **_**AFTER **_**chapter one. Whereas the previous two chapters took place before the first chapter, this one takes place a day afterwards. If you can remember, there will be an alien invasion, but it won't happen for another week.**

**In this one, Iori Yagami takes his unique views on Life (it sucks) and Death (He's a cool guy) on a boat for some nautical nonsense, to quote a certain Nickelodeon cartoon. More specifically, Iori and the Purple Flame Diner crew (which is now a whopping SIX members!) are catering for a fighting tournament overseas. Meanwhile, evil forces are at work, and are trying to stop them from getting to Seattle, Washington, and by extension, Second Southtown.**

**Why is this chapter up before the one I promised last time? I actually wrote myself into a ditch with that. I'll get it up before this fic finishes, I promise.**

**Big thanks go out to Strike To Incinerate, who took the time to review the last few chapters, share some insights, and provide the above quote. Thanks, STI!**

**So here is Purple Flame Diner Act 2: Seafaring Shenanigans**

--COUNTDOWN TO ALIEN INVASION: 6d 10h. THIS MEANS THAT THIS CHAPTER TAKES PLACE AFTER THE LAST THREE CHAPTERS--

Pier 6 in the Southtown Docks is the largest and arguably the most used pier in the city. It was used to store Rugal Bernstein's submarine, the Ikari Warriors' recon cruiser, and occasionally the pirate B. Jenet uses Pier 6 when she comes to Southtown. Nowadays, Pier 6 is used by another member of the Bernstein family, Adelheid. And the boat currently parked there is the Shadow Moses(1), a new version of the Bernstein's original boat, the Black Ark.

The one problem with this? Adelheid works for local King of Fighters regular Iori Yagami. Iori owns a Subway/Johnny Rockets amalgamation called The Purple Flame Diner, which by this time has grown from a small-time establishment run by just him to a member of the Southtown Restaurant Association(2) with five people working for him, including Adelheid. And they were all standing on Pier 6.

Iori, the formerly-antisocial KOF badass, said "Okay guys, our own Adel Bernstein has graciously let us use one of his boats. Now, I'd like to count heads before we set off, so that we're sure everyone's here." Iori then pulled out a small notebook from his pocket, and counted off the others. "Adel?"

A tall, young, blonde, rich male in his late teens, who looked like an amalgamation of his own father Rugal and a typical teenager, said, "here."

"Nakoruru?"

A Japanese nature girl from ancient times, with long brown hair and a hawk on her shoulder said, "Hello!"

"Cosplayer Kyoko?"

A short, young, brunette, Japanese-American(3) girl who looked just like Kyo Kusanagi snored. "Okay, she's here, just having another of her narcoleptic(4) attacks", Iori checked off. He then sighed, and continued with…

"Shen Woo?"

A young-looking dude with a pink shirt, black pants, short blonde hair, a shark-toothed necklace, and weird tattoos on his arms(5) said, "Yo!"

"K9999?"

A NESTS-produced Kyo clone that's more like a Tetsuo Shima(6) clone said "You called?" in a rude, rather condescending tone.

"And I'm here, of course. Alright, all aboard!"

And so they boarded the Shadow Moses, unaware they were being tracked…

--MEANWHILE, IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION THAT JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE WITHIN THEIR DESTINATION…--

"damn it, damn it, DAMN IT! K9999 got away!"

A nearly-bald man with a Magnum P.I.(7) moustache was pacing back and forth in a command center of some sort. This mustachioed man was named Zero, and he is one of the top agents for an organization called NESTS. Or rather, he was, until NESTS was shut down and the remaining members scattered. It was he who fired the Zero Cannon which destroyed Original Southtown. It was he who got the beating of his life for it. It was his boss Igniz who got the blame for it.

Anyway, Zero paced back and forth saying, "K9999 got away! This is bad, real bad. To make matters worse, he's out in Japan! If Boss Goodman finds out about this, he'll be-""Find out about what?"(8)

Apparently, Zero was too busy pacing that he didn't notice a tall, white-haired, red-suited man next to a gorilla made of fire. "You meant to tell me that K9999 escaped our organization?"

"That seems to be."

"Well, that's an unexpected turn of events. Still, I can't say I'm surprised. He made three escape attempts in the last month alone."

"So what shall we do then, Boss Goodman?"

"We search Japan for K9999. With any luck, he should be in Southtown."

Suddenly, a red-shirted redshirt(9) intelligence agent with short brown hair, glasses, and also wearing red pants and black Chuck Taylors'(10) said, "Goodman, Sir! There is a problem!"

"What is it, Redshirt #87(11)?"

"K9999 has just left Japan for Seattle on an unidentified cruiser! Estimated Time of Arrival is twenty hours!"

"Good work, Redshirt."

"We've also detected an Orochi power source and two other energy sources from the unidentified cruiser!"

"_Very_ good work. You may return to your station, Redshirt."

"Yes, sir!"

Zero then said, "This is an unexpected development, Boss Goodman. It seems that we can finally capture K' and his pals!" Goodman agreed, and then sent out his fastest naval agents to capture the unidentified cruiser…

--SPEAKIN' OF…--

"Cosplayer" Kyoko Davis(12) Kirishima, a narcoleptic eighteen-year-old who usually cosplays as Kyo Kusanagi, slept on the boat's sofa. It seemed that Kyoko's condition prevented her from entering fighting tournaments as anything other than a Striker(13) or a substitute(14). She tried everything, but it just wouldn't go away. So she just decided to live with it. It wasn't until recently that people started to notice that she collapses randomly.

Anyway, Kyoko was just doing fine in her dream world, dancing with bananas singing about how it is time for peanut butter & jelly(15), when all of a sudden, someone knocked her right back to reality. As it turns out, it was Iori Yagami. "I hate to disrupt your nap, Kyoko, but we've got trouble." Kyoko went right back to sleep. Iori sighed, picked her up, and carried her as if she was an invalid (which technically she is) to the top of the boat.

--AT THE TOP OF THE BOAT, WHERE THE CREW SAW TROUBLE—

Incidentally, Shen Woo, the most irresponsible of the crew, was the one who first spotted another boat, possibly hostile. He told Adel about this new development, who in turn told Iori, who as you saw told Kyoko. They were all on the boat's bridge, trying to figure out who could possibly be after them. K9999 suggested, "it's probably a re-established NESTS cartel, and there's no way in hell I'm goin' back there." Iori shot that idea down, saying "Nah, NESTS was disbanded after Igniz died. I was there, you know." Adel then added, "and it doesn't look like an Ikari boat…" Iori then asked the oldest one there (but only by a technicality), "Nako, can you use your hawk to find out?"

"What, and get her killed?"

"Just askin'."

Just then, they all heard a noise coming from Adel. It was a shrill WRRRRRRYYYY(16) noise, heard on some cell phones. Adel said, "It's my cell." He answered the call, saying, "This is Adelheid Bernstein. Who is this?"

"Kid, get your ass out of the area!"

Adel breathed a sigh of relief. It was just one of the Ikari Warriors. "Oh, hi Ralf. How's Leona?"

"She's asleep(17), but that's not the point right now. You need to get your sorry ass away from that area, mostly because there's a pirate cruiser heading in your direction!"

"Oh dear. Thanks for the info, but we need to get to Second Southtown."

"Kid, listen. Those pirates are ruthless. You ne-"

Adel hung up before Ralf Jones, Ikari Warrior, could finish his statement. "That ship's full of pirates. Ruthless pirates, apparently." Adel explained, to which Iori replied, "Well, then. This is an interesting development."

TO BE CONTINUED…

**Real Bout Fatal Footnotes**

**1) Shadow Moses is also the name of an island somewhere in Alaska. None of the SNK characters ever care/cared to go to Alaska, so that's why no one's ever heard of it. **

**2) This is the guild of food places in Southtown. There's a guild for fighters (the Southtown Fighting Circuit) and there's a guild for food.**

**3) Kyoko may not be an OC, but she might as well be, mainly because her history's not really elaborated on. Expect a stand-alone chapter on that shortly.**

**4) Narcolepsy = a sleep disorder.**

** 5) Ask Shen how he got those, 'cause not even his closest friend Ash Crimson knows the answer to that.**

**6) You know Akira, the award winning OVA? Tetsuo's the main antagonist.**

**7) Have you seen Zero's moustache? Have you?**

**8) CLICHÉ ALERT!**

**9) Read: expendable. I always thought that redshirts should wear red shirts, too.**

**10) This is an almost accurate description of myself. In other words, this IS a self-insert. Don't expect a lot out of Redshirt #87.**

**11) Expendable person number 87, codenamed Redshirt #87.**

**12) I **_**did**_** say she was Japanese-American… Again, all shall be explained in a stand-alone chapter featuring Kyoko.  
**

**13) As in KOF 2000**

**14) This is an interesting element. What if someone, like say Shingo Yabuki, was unable to make the tournament due to school? This is where substitutes come in.**

**15) I'm sure you get the reference.**

**16) Oh come on. This is clearly a reference to Dio Brando and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.  
**

**17) Leona, as many of you know, has Orochi blood. But unlike Iori, she falls asleep every time the Riot of the Blood ends.**

**18) I'm clearly getting lazy with these footnotes. Sue me, I was writing this at school.  
**

_**NEXT UP!**_

_The epic continuation of this chapter! Will Iori and PFD crew beat those Pirates? Who are these Pirates anyway? Why Am I Asking These Questions?_

**Once again, thanks to Strike To Incinerate!**


	5. Chap the Fifth: Seafaring Shenanigans II

_**Review Quotes:**_

_**So Clone Zero goes from serving one blonde powerhungry maniac (Igniz) to another (Goodman). Will Original Zero show make an appearance? –Flaming Arsenal**_

**Neo Geo Chronicles is so badass, even Chuck Norris cowers in fear.**

**Previously, Iori Yagami and his varied acquaintances got on a boat to Second Southtown. But when Goodman, local cheap-ass endboss of the town, sends out a cruiser to stop them and also to capture one of Iori's employees, it's up to the six of them to stop that from happening.**

**Well, at least, that would be the case, if it wasn't for the fact that the cruiser is staffed by ruthless pirates not of the B. Jenet variety.**

**Thanks to Flaming Arsenal, for taking the time to review and suggest Original Zero to come again. This would be a good time to say that you should review this story. Who knows? Maybe you could appear on the Review Quotes, or maybe even make a cameo in the story itself.**

**This next chapter is called The Purple Flame Diner Act 3: Seafaring Shenanigans Part 2!**

-WE NOW CONTINUE OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED ASS-KICKING, FACE-MELTING SNK UNIVERSE FANFICTION, ALREADY IN PROGRESS-

"Well then. This is an interesting development."

Iori Yagami, founder and owner of the Purple Flame Diner, and also a King of Fighters veteran, had said about the pirate ship, which if I may remind you, was heading in their general direction. Iori had some experience with pirates on the high seas, most of them from the Lillien Knights (okay, fine, it was just Bonne Jenet back in the eleventh KOF), but still. Yet he was not prepared for actual pirates heading this way.

"So what are we going to do, then?" Adel asked his boss, to which said boss replied "Simple. We fight. We'll beat them back with our abilities and superior training(1), and hopefully they'll think twice about dealing with us."

"Yes, but do we have a plan in mind?"

Iori hadn't planned for pirates to attack, but since they were going to anyway (unbeknownst to them, they were being paid to by Goodman, and not by Somali mercenaries(2)), he had to come up with a plan. And he came up with one in the record breaking time of a minute. "I've got it. Adel, do we have any ranged weapons on this boat?" The aforementioned Bernstein kid sadly shook his head. "Damn. Well, there goes that plan."

-LET'S SKIP AHEAD TO JUST WHEN THE PIRATES AND THE SHADOW MOSES MEET…-

About ten hours had passed since Iori asked Adel about ranged weapons (like torpedoes) on the boat. It was night-time, so the birds and the sun were already down from the top of the sky(3). The mood was set for an epic confrontation of titanic proportions. Everyone on the boat was either asleep or keeping watch, and the only people keeping watch were Iori, part-time rival(4) of Kyo Kusanagi; Shen Woo, the only KOF competitor to not have any special powers other than to deflect projectiles(5); and K9999, a former NESTS agent with the power to transform his hands into various weapons (And some non-weapons. How else do you think he got his job at the diner?)

Iori activated his flames(6) to light up the area around him, and afterwards said "All quiet on the western front(7)." "A bit too quiet if you ask me.(8)", Shen had responded.

WHEN SUDDENLY! The Purple Flame Diner crew saw something. You see, in the ten hours that passed, the people on the Shadow Moses forgot that they were to fight ruthless pirates, and so initially breezed right by them.

-MEANWHILE, ON THE PIRATE SHIP-

"I thought I told you to tell me when we get near those guys!"

The captain of the ship was pissed. He could've sworn that his crew was better than this. In actuality, the crew was just about the second-or-third(9) most incompetent group of ruthless pirates ever to sail the seven seas. Firstly, their target and their ship passed each other, and by the time that the crew realized that they just missed their target, they were about two hours behind! This oversight got them a verbal lashing from their boss, who just so happened to be a crazed blonde powerhungry maniac with a flaming whip.

By the time they finally caught up with them, eight more hours had passed, proving that they couldn't operate the best ship Goodman had assigned to them if they tried. (incidentally, this _was _the fastest ship Goodman had. huh.)

"Sorry, sir, we're doing our best here!" a member of the crew complained.

"Who hired that guy?" The Captain asked his second-in-command, to which he said "That one.", pointing to one of the mooks(10) on the ship.

"And just who is he?"

"An Asshole, sir."

"Well, I know that, but who is he?"

The mook in question said "Second Lieutenant Phillip Asshole, sir!" (11)

The Captain rolled his eyes. This was going to be one of those days… Suddenly, he heard "Sir! We've just reached the ship! We await your orders!" Why, this was said by the Captain's protégé, Redshirt #64(12)! "Excellent! Prepare to attack!"

-BACK ON THE SHADOW MOSES-

"Iori, got a light(13)?" Shen asked his boss. Iori just stared at him. "You're right. Stupid question." Shen then quickly answered his own question, which prompted K9999 to say "Why would we need lighters when we've got fire powers?"

"Well, _I _don't, dumbass."

"What'cha just call me?"

Iori, meanwhile, stared into the darkness. The darkness stared back at him. It said 'yo.'(14) Then a pirate ship appeared to the side. "Oh, right. Attack by pirates imminent. Let's go!"

Meanwhile, the pirate captain said "This's it? A little dinghy? CHARGE!" at which point their boat extended a bridge onto the Shadow Moses. Or at least it would have, but as I already established, most of the crew were a few pixels short of 640x480(15), and ended up pressing the wrong button, releasing oil in the ocean. Iori suddenly improvised a plan. Right then, he used his Yami Barai move to light the oil on purple fire. The Captain was sort of confused by this move. "Why'd ya do that?" he asked. It was the last thing he said before an explosion rocked his ship (and, conveniently enough, ONLY his ship(16)) and sent several pirates flying out into the fire, wherein they burnt to death. "Oil's flammable." Iori said. The captain was pissed, and decided to jump onto the Shadow Moses, wherein he quickly lifted a finger at his enemy, announcing "YOU MUST DIE!"(17) and quickly pulled out a firearm and shot it. Iori dodged the bullet, which flew right past Shen, and ended up grazing K9999's left cheek. Everyone on the ship (except for the aforementioned villain) slowly backed away. Everyone knew that, although K9999 was generally a good fighter, he couldn't control his powers. This is especially true when he gets shot at. Or gets angry. Both just happened.

"HIT THE DECK!", Iori shouted, at which point K9999 morphed his arm into a freakin' giant tentacle, and launched it towards the Pirate Captain. This thing was really powerful(18), so when K9999's tentacle hit you, it HURT. The unnamed pirate captain was launched far away from the boat, and ended up somewhere in an island on the Pacific Ocean. No one has heard from him since.

-A FEW HOURS AFTER THIS EVENT, BECAUSE THIS WRITER IS TOO LAZY TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING AFTER THE CAPTAIN WAS PRESUMABLY KILLED-

Iori and the Purple Flame Diner crew made it to the harbor at Second Southtown, which just so happened to be their destination. "Uh, Iori?", Kyoko asked (she had woke up two hours prior) "Yeah?" Iori responded, to which Kyoko said, "Can we go to Seattle?(19) My parents are there, and I'd like to see them." at which point Shen piped up "Your parents live in Seattle?"

"Yeah, why? This IS Washington, after all."

Iori, meanwhile, thought about this for a bit. "Well, we're here for at least a week. I don't see any reason why we can't go to Seattle, but the problem is we don't have a car." At which point Adelheid Bernstein, being of almost-sound mind and body, said "I can arrange transportation. If you'll recall, my father had contacts here."

And so it was that Iori Yagami, Adelheid Bernstein, Shen Woo, Kyoko Davis, K9999, and Nakoruru decided that, after they served their purpose here, they would go to Seattle to visit Kyoko's parents. But that is another story, and one that might be covered in a future chapter (Don't get your hopes up.(20))

**Art of Footnotes**

**1) Everyone in the SNK Universe has had some sort of combat training. Granted, some got better training than others, but that's beside the point.**

**2) POLITICAL SATIRE! (oops. Too soon.)**

**3) This is another reference to **_**Half Life: Full Life Consequences**_**, one of the worst fics EVAR.**

**4) I say "part-time" because of Iori's habit to team up with Kyo to stop imminent threats to humanity.**

**5) One of Shen Woo's new moves in The King of Fighters XI is to backhand projectiles away. This comes in handy, as well as it being an entire challenge set in the game. Since that was added when XI came out, I figure it's canon. I hope it makes its way into XII.**

**6) Supposedly, Iori's flames were stolen by Ash Crimson in XI. But in Neo Geo Chronicles (which follows the game canon as closely as possible, while editing some important plot points), Ash missed his chance to steal Iori's flames. Chizuru, however, still doesn't have the Yata Mirror.**

**7) **_**All Quiet on the Western Front **_**is actually a German book about World War I, written by a guy named Erich Maria Remarque.**

**8) You know how in most movies there's a guy saying "It's quiet" and then there's another guy saying "Too quiet", and then they are ambushed by a bunch of enemy footsoldiers? **

**9) This was a phrase coined by Homestar Runner, the second-or-third best web cartoon on the internet, of which THE best is obviously Zero Punctuation(9a)**

**9a) Zero Punctuation is a game review show on the Escapist by the guy who did the Chzo Mythos. His name is Ben Croshaw, AKA Yahtzee. It mostly consists of running gags, crude language, good art, rapid talking, and humor designated for ages 18 and over. I suggest you check it out, but be warned that it's not intended for minors. Or anyone easily offended.**

**10) A mook is like a redshirt, but much more worthless. Redshirts at least look decent in red, and are sometimes crucial to the plot. Mooks are just expendable footsoldiers with no relevance.**

**11) If you don't already get the reference, this part was inspired by/ripped off from the Mel Brooks classic space opera spoof Spaceballs. "How many assholes do we have on this ship anyhow?" "YO!"**

**12) Sixty-four is my favorite number. Three guesses as to why.**

**13) No, Shen Woo doesn't smoke. He may have been raised on the street (supposedly), but even he knows not to shorten his lifespan by smoking. And neither should you.**

**14) Poorly planned and executed personification for the win.**

**15) I.E., most of them were stupid. 640X480 is generally a standard resolution setting, unless you have one of those, you know, GOOD monitors that display in larger resolutions, like 1240x780**

**16) Explosions should have at least halfway decent splash damage, otherwise it's just another PF(16a) Grenade.**

**16a) Peregrine Falcon, the group behind the player characters of Metal Slug, for those who haven't played the game yet.**

**17) If you've seen the ending of a certain CD-i game, a certain evildoer says this to a certain heroine. I'm not going to say which one, because you probably already know which one, and in any case it's too horrible to say the name of.**

**18) Not as powerful as Ralf's Galactica Phantom, but still.**

**19) Like I said before, Kyoko is Japanese-American. Since SNK didn't bother to give her a backstory, I had to make one up. It's for this reason that SNK should totally bring her back.**

* * *

**20) Exactly.**

Finally, this damn arc is done. Now we can get back to sketch.

_**NEXT UP: Geese Howard finally comes up with a plan that may actually work this time: a mecha version of himself. Will his archrival Terry Bogard or his son Rock Howard be able to stop him now? Will Andy Bogard finally marry Mai Shiranui? Will Kain R. Heinlein make an appearance to save the day for once? Is the Japanese government even interested in this sudden threat to Southtownians everywhere? Will Redshirt Number #86 make an appearance again?**_

_**The answer to that last one's no, obviously. Catch the next chapter, which is called Fatally Furious Act 1: Mecha Geese!**_


End file.
